


...Because Blair is Always Cold

by Ceares



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-03-01
Updated: 2000-03-01
Packaged: 2017-12-11 11:46:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/798409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceares/pseuds/Ceares





	...Because Blair is Always Cold

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## ...Because Blair is Always Cold

by [Ceares](mailto:Ceares@yahoo.com)  


Author's disclaimer: Not mine. No, no, no... All belong to PetFly et al...

Part 2/Because series (All parts are stand alone. If you do read the series, be aware tone as well as rating varies in each story. All scientific theories, magic rituals etc... are completely made up unless otherwise noted. Please forgive any continuity errors, these were written out of order. Feedback appreciated.) Inspired by Christine and Bryan, (who won't ever read this) here's hoping you guys get back together. 

* * *

...Because Blair is Always Cold  
[Ceares@yahoo.com](mailto:Ceares@yahoo.com)

**PRESENT:**

"It's a really bad idea to work with your Ex. I mean they frown on employee fraternizing for a reason. It 's an even worse idea to live with him. Even when you've sworn you can just be friends. No problem. Trust me, its a definite problem." The empty bottle in front of him was replaced with a full one. /Especially when you're still in love him. Most especially when you're more than just partners. When you're linked by a genetic imperative. When you're Sentinel and Guide./ 

"So, what do you do?" The man in front of him shrugged, continuing to wipe down the counter. Blair supposed he had heard this same sob story a thousand times before. He was after all a bartender. "Other than drive your boss and co workers crazy that is. Though in Simon's case, I suspect after four years with us, it's a short trip. Ofcourse I suppose Ex is over stating since we were together what? Two weeks before the blow up. But hey, it was a great two weeks. Possibly the best two weeks of my life." He stared morosely into his beer. He couldn't believe he'd had everything he'd always wanted, and it had fallen apart over a stupid sweater. A very expensive, sky blue cashmere sweater that had been donated to the nearest homeless shelter the day he got it. 

**TWO WEEKS AGO:**

"Nice sweater Hairboy." 

Blair preened a little, rubbing the soft material. He'd found it giftwrapped along with a note at his desk this morning. He smiled. He hadn't thought Jim was the type for anonymous gifts, and that note... wow! He was learning new things about his lover everyday. 

"Thanks. Um, you know Rafe, I cut my hair three months ago." 

Rafe shrugged, grinning. "I know, but old habits die hard. Besides, you just look so cute with all those wavy locks. Like a sweet little cocker spaniel." He ruffled said locks with a playful hand., snickering when Blair flipped him off. 

* * *

"Nice sweater Chief." 

Blair looked up from the folder he was studying to find his partner, best friend, and new lover smiling at him. He returned the smile with a blinding one. "Uh huh. Beautiful isn't it. Very warm, very soft. Somebody has really good taste." 

Jim's look turned quizzical. "Somebody?" 

Blair frowned. "Yeah, somebody like my incredibly romantic lover?" The last was said softly, a question in his voice. 

Jim shook his head. "Not me Chief, maybe it's from Naomi." 

Blair shook his head, reaching into his desk and handing Jim the note that had come with the sweater. The one that had kept him blushing and half hard all morning. "Trust me, I don't think so man. So this isn't from you either." 

Jim looked over the note, his face slowly turning red as he perused the erotic phrases. "What the hell is this Chief?" His voice was cold, and he crumpled the paper between tight fingers. 

"That's what I'd like to know. This was at my desk this morning. I just assumed it was from you." 

"And you didn't think it was strange that I'd leave it here and not the loft?" 

Blair shrugged uncomfortably. "Yeah, I did, but, I thought it was kind of romantic." 

If possible, Jim's voice got even colder. He glanced down at the note again. "This is the kind of thing you like Sandburg?" Jim hadn't called him Sandburg since the day he had mistaken Blair's uncle for a sugar daddy. The day they had become lovers. 

Blair flushed slightly as he remembered some of the more descriptive things the writer had wanted to do with him and the sweater. "I thought it was from you Jim. It was kind of sexy. Now I know it's not, its just kind of creepy." 

"It's a pretty intimate letter Chief. You sure you don't know who its from?" 

Blair picked up on the hint of accusation in the voice, and he could feel himself getting defensive. " I told you I thought it was from you. I have no clue as to who it could be from." 

"So are you going to keep the sweater?" Jim's voice was that absolute neutral that sent a chill down Blair's spine. It was the tone he'd used about Borneo and Alex and the dissertation. The one that did not bode well for their relationship. 

Blair sighed, looking down at the sweater in regret. It really was warm. "No, I'll run down to the locker room and change after our meeting with Simon." 

* * *

"I see you got my gift. It looks wonderful on you, just like I knew it would." 

Blair turned away from his locker to see Ben Madison standing behind him, eyes traveling over Blair in avid appreciation. They had been at the academy together. A little shorter than Blair, with straight dark hair, and big brown eyes, his enthusiasm had reminded Blair a little of himself four years ago. It had also made him feel incredibly old. 

"Ben, you sent this? Man are you crazy?" 

Ben shook his head, moving closer to Blair, who stepped back, almost into his locker. "No. I love you Blair. I have since the academy. I just wanted to do something to let you know how I felt, and when I saw the sweater, I knew you had to have it It's almost the same color as your eyes. And the salesman told me it was real warm. I noticed that you're always cold you know." 

"Ben really, I'm flattered, but I'm sort of involved with someone." 

Brown eyes moistened as Ben shook his head in rapid denial. "No, I asked around, and everybody I talked to said you weren't seeing anybody." 

Blair blanched. He and Jim weren't exactly in the closet, but they didn't go around broadcasting their sleeping arrangements to the general public either. It wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do, especially at the police department. "Ben, this isn't really the place to come out if you know what I mean." He flinched back as a hand came up to caress his face. 

"It's okay Blair, I know we'll be hassled some, but I can take it. I just want to be with you." 

Looking into those earnest eyes, Blair was trying to find a way to let him down gently when he became aware of another presence in the room. 

"Don't tell me Chief, your cousin? Nephew twice removed? Long lost brother?" Jim's voice was cutting, and Ben flinched, stepping back from Blair. 

"Jim, this is Ben, he was at the academy with me. Ben, my partner, Jim." 

Cold eyes ran over the younger man. "Sweater guy I take it." 

Blair nodded. "Yeah, I was just explaining..." 

Those cold eyes turned on him, and Blair swallowed hard at the anger in their expression. "What exactly Chief? How much you liked his gift? How 'romantic' you thought it was?" 

The accusation was there again in Jim's voice, and it was really starting to piss Blair off. "What's that supposed to mean?" He had pretty much forgotten Ben was still in the room. 

Jim shrugged. "It means I know you Chief, and I've watched you go through how many women in the past four years?" 

"Jim, I cannot believe you man." Blair couldn't help the hurt that leaked out. " So you think I what, ran down here to Ben with you right upstairs?" 

"Maybe you just got caught up in the moment Chief, you know how you are." 

"Maybe you are a complete dick." 

"Yeah well, you and Ben make a lovely couple Sandburg." He turned and started out the door as Blair watched in complete disbelief. 

"Jim. Jim!" The Sentinel never turned around, and Blair's last comment was meant for his ears alone. "Fine. Fuck you Ellison." He leaned against the locker in shock. Two whole weeks of true love, then this, and what he hell was he supposed to do now? 

"Blair?" The tentative voice reminded him of the other person in the room. "I'm sorry. I mean I didn't know about you and your partner." 

Blair turned on him, forgetting gentle and compassionate. "You didn't know shit Ben. Try talking to a person, you know, asking them out. The gift and the note were bordering on stalky, and that is not a good thing, especially for a cop." 

Ben's face brightened and Blair wondered if he actually listened to anything he said. "So, you wanna go out." 

"No." 

"I just thought that now you and Jim aren't together..." 

"No." Blair's voice was emphatic. 

"Maybe later..." 

"Ben, leave now." Everyone in Major Crimes would have recognized the voice, but not from Blair. It was pure Ellison, cold and cutting and dangerous, and Ben stepped back, eyes wide, realizing that maybe he didn't know the object of his affections as well as he thought he did." 

* * *

Jim wasn't at his desk when Blair made it back up to the bullpen. He was so lost in thought, he didn't notice the curious and wary looks he was getting. Blair sighed, knowing he would have to wait until Jim cooled off before he could talk to him. 

"Sandburg, my office now." The tone of Simon's voice clued Blair into the fact that the day was just going to keep getting worse. 

"What's going on with you and Jim?" 

Blair shrugged, looking away from Simon's searching eyes. "Nothing Captain." 

Simon leaned back in his chair. "So nothing, made Jim come in here, throw his coffee cup against the wall, mutter about strangling someone with a sweater and take off, without so much as a by your leave." 

Blair's eyes widened. It might possibly take a little longer than he thought for Jim to cool off. "It's personal Captain." 

Simon leaned forward intently. "Sandburg, it's only personal if you don't bring it into my bullpen." 

Blair nodded. "I'm sorry sir. It won't happen again." 

Simon rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Just fix it Sandburg." 

* * *

Blair tried to, only it seemed that it was unfixable. Jim refused flat out to hear anything starting with or containing the word Ben. Blair ran a frustrated hand through his hair, forgetting, as he did less often these days, that it was short. 

"Jim, don't do this." 

"Look Sandburg, maybe it's for the best. I mean we're still partners, still friends. That other thing was probably a bad idea anyway given our track records." 

"So you're saying what, we just let things go back to the way they were before?" 

Jim nodded, his head turned away, refusing to meet Blair's eyes. "Yeah, let's just stick with what works for us." 

**PRESENT:**

"So let me get this straight. Your partner. The guy who thinks you're cheating on him, is backing you up." 

Blair nodded, "Yeah." He took a sip of his third beer. Or was it his fourth? He didn't really know, or care. Getting blotto was the actual plan. It was the only way he could stand to be at home with Jim without throwing himself at him and begging him to take him back. 

The bartender shook his head. "You're either crazy or in love son, not that there's much difference between them. I wouldn't trust my Ex to watch me cross the street without letting me get creamed by a bus." 

Blair laughed. "Trust me man. There is no way that Ji... my partner would let anything happen to me." 

"So you're still friends. How do you do it man?" 

"Well, we haven't killed each other yet, so we're not doing to bad." 

* * *

Ofcourse later that night, he was forced to revise his opinion. Jim was on the couch watching the news when he got back to the loft. 

"Hey Chief, you're home early." 

Blair shrugged, hanging up his coat. 

"So how is Ben?" 

He opened his mouth and closed it again. He was just this side of sober, and not in the best place to get into an argument with Jim. After that first night when he'd tried to explain, and Jim had refused to listen, they had regressed their relationship back to its wary beginnings. Blair hadn't mentioned Ben again. But Jim did. He brought him up constantly. Making little digs, almost egging Blair into a confrontation. 

"Fine. He's fine." 

"It is still Ben isn't it? I mean his two weeks should be up soon, right Chief" 

Blair looked into the kitchen and thought of the cleaver that Jim had just recently sharpened. He knew Major Crimes would back him if he claimed justifiable homicide. Hell, after some of Jim's snarling and snapping the past two weeks, they would probably help him hide the body. The glare he sent Jim was killing, but Jim seemed to not know how close to death he was. He kept his eyes focused on the t.v. screen. Blair sighed. Thought of how much trouble it would be to get blood stains out of a white couch and shook his head. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning Jim." 

* * *

Blair woke up shivering. He snuggled deeper under the covers, pulling his comforter tighter, and sparing a moments regret for the warmth of his lover's arms. Ex lover he reminded himself. It was amazing how quickly you could get used to something, and how long it took you to get unused to it. 

He drifted back off, but the cold woke him again, and he got up and stumbled into the living room to check the thermostat, which read 50 degrees. He pushed it all the way up, waiting for it to click on, and swearing softly when it didn't. 

"What the hell are you doing down there Chief?" Jim's sleepy and irritated voice drifted over the railings. 

"The damn thermostat is broken man." 

"I'll call somebody out tomorrow, now go back to bed." 

Blair ignored him and flipped on the kitchen light, running water into the kettle. 

"Chief!" 

"Come on Jim, It's too cold to sleep man. I at least need some tea to warm me up." There was a silent beat of about five seconds, then a sigh of exasperation. 

"Get up here Chief." 

Blair paused for his own beat, running several replies through his head. "No way man, that is 'so' not a good idea." It was actually a terrible idea, and Blair wanted it so bad that he had to grab onto the counter to keep his feet from moving towards the stairs of their own volition. 

"Look Chief, you're cold, I'm sleepy. Neither one of those problems is going to get solved unless you get your ass up here now." 

"You sweet talker you." Sarcasm aside, Blair told himself that Jim had a point. After all, it was just a simple exchange of body heat, nothing else. No need to get excited. The last was for his groin which had already started to tighten in anticipation of being in the big bed again. 

He turned the stove off, flicked off the light and headed upstairs. Jim automatically moved over, pulling the covers back on 'Blair's' side of the bed. He slipped in without a word, and strong arms wrapped around him. Tiny shivers that he hadn't even been aware of ceased, and he snuggled closer. 

"So Chief, I hear Ben got called out of town on a family emergency. He's been gone for almost two weeks." 

Blair had stiffened automatically when Jim mentioned Ben's name, and now he pulled back to stare at his partner indignantly. "What? Then why the hell have you been ragging on me about him constantly." 

Jim shrugged, an awkward proposition considering he was laying down, with his arms still around Blair. "I figured if I kept on you, you'd say something Chief, then I could apologize, and we could make up. Instead you just pretended like you were really seeing him." 

"Sorry we weren't working from the same script there big guy, next time hand me a copy in advance so I know what demented scenarios you've worked out." Blair couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice, as he thought of all the insinuating comments Jim had made over the last two weeks. All the lonely nights in his bed. All the beers he'd consumed just to get to sleep in the same house as Jim. 

"I'm sorry. I know I was an asshole about the whole thing. I just freaked out when I saw him touching you Chief. For a minute I honestly wanted to beat the shit out of him. I know it's not fair, you're still young. Not ready to settle down. It's just the idea of you with somebody else makes me crazy." 

Blair took Jim's face in his hands, blue eyes meeting intently. "I know we kind of rushed into this, but that doesn't make it any less serious. Doesn't make 'me' any less serious about this Jim. I told you before. I'm certain about this, us." 

"Trust me big guy, I'm not 'that' young. Settling down is exactly what I'm ready for. I know I don't have the best track record, but I promise you that you're the one that I want. Only you." He reached up and pulled Jim's mouth down to his, savoring the feel of those firm lips against his again, finally. Tongues meshed, and languor soon turned to desperation as the banked embers of two weeks of desperation ignited. Clothes flew from under the covers, and Blair forgot the cold as he was warmed in his lover's passion. 

Later, he snuggled sleepily, spooned against Jim's chest. 

"You can turn the furnace back on now." 

"How'd you know?" 

He placed a soft kiss on the arm encircling his chest. "Jim, you're way to anal to call a repair man without trying to fix it yourself. If it had really been broken, you'd be down in the basement right now with your tools." 

"Oh you think you know me so well don't you." The voice was grumpy and sleepy. 

Blair smiled, he practically had his own version of the seven dwarfs all rolled into one Jim. "Yeah, I do." 

He had almost dropped off when Jim's voice came again. "That was bad." 

"Yeah. It was." Jim's arms tightened around him, and a soft kiss was dropped on his head. 

"Let's not do that again. I mean not the fighting thing. That's not possible. But the apart thing. Let's not do that again. Okay?" 

"Okay." 

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End

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